(CEDAR CITY, Utah) - AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) and staff at the Southwest Applied Technology College (SWATC), in Cedar City, UT, are working to alleviate hunger in our community. According to Utahns Against Hunger 48.8 million people live in households considered to be food insecure in the United States. The food insecurity rate in Utah is 13% - nearly 5% of those households have very low food insecurity.

In honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Day, the VISTA team on the SWATC campus has organized a community food drive. All donations will go to support the SWATC Giving Assistance to Individuals in Need (GAIN) program’s on-campus student food pantry. The pantry is available for all SWATC students in need.

A current SWATC student shared, “The food pantry at SWATC has helped me feed myself and my grandchildren the few days a month before I get my paycheck when I normally would’ve been unable to do that. Due to other financial obligations such as school, medical costs, car payments etc, it makes it difficult.”

The food drive will consist of hand delivering 500 paper grocery bags to neighborhoods throughout the Cedar City area. The collected food will then be picked up, sorted, boxed, weighed and used to stock the on-campus pantry. Last year’s holiday food drive yielded 2,208 pounds of non-perishable food, as well as $412 in cash and in-kind donations.

(CEDAR CITY, Utah) - AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA) and staff at the Southwest Applied Technology College (SWATC), in Cedar City, UT, are working to alleviate hunger in our community. According to Utahns Against Hunger 48.8 million people live in households considered to be food insecure in the United States. The food insecurity rate in Utah is 13% - nearly 5% of those households have very low food insecurity.

In honor of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Day, the VISTA team on the SWATC campus has organized a community food drive. All donations will go to support the SWATC Giving Assistance to Individuals in Need (GAIN) program’s on-campus student food pantry. The pantry is available for all SWATC students in need.

A current SWATC student shared, “The food pantry at SWATC has helped me feed myself and my grandchildren the few days a month before I get my paycheck when I normally would’ve been unable to do that. Due to other financial obligations such as school, medical costs, car payments etc, it makes it difficult.”

The food drive will consist of hand delivering 500 paper grocery bags to neighborhoods throughout the Cedar City area. The collected food will then be picked up, sorted, boxed, weighed and used to stock the on-campus pantry. Last year’s holiday food drive yielded 2,208 pounds of non-perishable food, as well as $412 in cash and in-kind donations.